基于近海健康评价现有体系的我国普适海洋健康评价“双核”新框架的构建

海洋生态环境保持健康状态是人类可持续开发利用海洋资源环境的基础,而近海海洋生态环境的健康状况综合评价可为海洋生态环境良性发展以及社会经济决策提供科学依据。首先对国际上3种代表性的海洋环境健康综合评价方法的应用特点进行了对比分析,并归纳了我国海洋生态环境健康评价的状况,在此基础上,以指标体系法重构了一个双核结构的综合评价框架,其中内核评价以海洋生态系统的自身状态为主,外核评价则主要反映海洋之于人类经济社会的贡献,以期能够科学、准确、全面的评价我国近海海洋环境健康状况。     

Ecological indicators for green building construction

Building construction is one of the largest final consumers of environmental resources as well as one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gas and other pollution. This paper aims to propose ecological indicators for green building construction by applying a slack-based data envelop analysis approach, in which resource conservation and environmental protection are both incorporated. We conduct an empirical analysis of ecological indicators for green building construction using China's regional panel dataset during 1995–2012, and use the analysis to further discuss the technological gaps across the regions. The findings show that: (i) half of China's provinces have a substantial potential increase of more than 60% in ecological performance for green building construction; (ii) the developed areas perform better than the developing areas; (iii) the 11th five-year plan period is a turning point for China's green building construction and development as the policies for green construction have significant effects.     

Indicators for Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Perspective

Assessment of risk to public health or environmental resources requires competent characterization of stressors and corresponding effects. Because of the complexity of most stressor-response relationships, it is impossible to completely characterize all the variables, so a select set of measurements is made to reflect the most critical components. Such measurements, or indicators, are included in monitoring programs to estimate trend, stressor source, or magnitude of effects and lead to thresholds for management action or restoration. Although a wide variety of programs and program objectives exists, there are some common challenges for indicator development, including a strong link to management actions. Indicator measurements used in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) risk assessment activities must stem from collaboration among managers, risk assessors, scientists and stakeholders. The primary objective of the USEPA's Fifth Symposium of the National Health and Ecological Effects Research Laboratory was to improve health and ecological risk assessment through dedicated sessions that maximized interaction and discussion among these groups. Existing measurements were challenged for appropriateness, efficiency and scientific validity. Emerging science was explored for greater understanding, better interpretation, and improved methodology. A secondary objective was to uncover and exploit common indicators and supporting data for human health and ecological models.     

Using multiple indicators to evaluate the ecological integrity of a coastal plain stream system

We demonstrate the use of multiple indicators to characterize the ecological integrity of a coastal plain stream system in the New Jersey Pinelands in relation to human-induced watershed alterations. The individual indicators include pH, specific conductance, stream vegetation and stream-fish, impoundment-fish, and anuran assemblages. We evaluate and compare the utility of the individual and multiple environmental and biological indicators and present a relatively straightforward method for ranking sites. Specific conductance and pH measured at 88 monitoring sites varied in relation to the percentage of altered land (developed land and upland agriculture) within the associated watersheds. All three environmental variables were associated with variations in the composition of stream vegetation and stream fish, impoundment fish, and anuran assemblages. With the exception of impoundment fish, the association between altered land and the multiple-indicator scores based on the two water-quality indicators and the four biological indicators was stronger than that displayed by any of the individual variables.     

西部欠发达地区生态经济系统能值分析——以青海省海西蒙古族藏族自治州为例

青海省海西蒙古族藏族自治州（简称海西州）生态环境脆弱,快速发展的工业活动对当地生态环境造成严重破坏。海西州地处青藏高原东北部,是我国重要的生态安全屏障之一,在全国生态建设中处于特殊地位。能值分析法是一种基于热力学理论的环境核算方法。利用能值分析法对海西州生态经济系统运行现状进行评估;并应用能值指标评价海西州生态经济系统的可持续发展水平;通过对能值指标的时间序列分析揭示海西州生态经济系统的发展趋势,以期为海西州生态经济系统的可持续发展提供参考依据。研究结果表明,2016年支撑海西州生态经济系统运行的总能值投入量为6.69×10²⁴ sej,是2010年总能值投入量的1.94倍。在2010-2016年的7年内,不可更新资源的能值投入占当年总能值投入量的比例均超过90%,而可更新资源能值投入量与从系统外输入到海西州的能值量占比均较低。基于能值的指标分析显示：海西州的人均能值使用量、能值密度、能值货币比率、环境负载率分别从2010年的8.84×10¹⁸ sej/人、1.15×10¹³ sej/m²、3.05×10¹⁴ sej/US$、103.02增加到2016年的1.65×10¹⁹ sej/人、2.22×10¹³ sej/m²、9.12×10¹⁴ sej/US$、213.47;而相应的能值产出率、能值可持续发展指数则分别从2010年的2.66×10³和25.84降低到2016年的1.23×10³和5.74。研究结果表明虽然海西州经济得到发展、人民生活质量得到提高,而经济发展对当地不可再生资源依赖较大,给环境造成的压力不断增加。为从长远角度实现海西州的可持续发展,亟需转变经济发展方式,降低对不可更新能源的过度开发。此外,研究结果显示,海西州的能值交换率小于1,这说明研究时间范围内,海西州在对外贸易过程中处于不利地位,因此需增加单位产品的附加值以促进能值流的合理流动。     

Nation-wide indicators of ecological integrity in Mexico: The status of mammalian apex-predators and their habitat

Ecological indicators that evaluate the status and trends of mammalian apex predators are necessary for monitoring the ecological integrity of landscapes. Several nation-wide spatial indicators that describe the status of apex predators after habitat transformation have been developed for México. These spatial indicators show the condition of the remnant natural landscape for maintaining the complexity of predator-prey interactions and habitat selection and use. The indicators were obtained using the concept of ecological integrity, that characterize the landscape based upon manifest and latent variables of naturalness, stability and self-organization, according with the measures of spatial distribution of species and natural habitat. When the current status is evaluated for individual species of apex predators, all species showed less than 50% of their distribution areas with a high degree of ecological integrity. Neotropical predators (such as jaguars and ocelots) are more threatened by the transformation of natural habitat, than their counterparts in Nearctic regions (e.g., bears, cougars, bobcats, and coyotes), which showed nonetheless, a high amount of their distribution areas with a high proportion of degraded habitat. The indicators allowed evaluating the status of still extant top predators in the landscape and their habitat condition within major ecoregions in the country.     

State of environment indicators of 'river health': exploring the metaphor

1. Indicators are crucial to many socio-political schemes for portraying environmental influences of society. For example, the OECD model for State of the Environment Reporting uses three different sorts of indicators (pressure, condition, response) to differentiate the present condition of the environment from the anthropogenic pressures upon it and from any societal responses made to alleviate those pressures (thereby improving aspects of the overall condition). 2. These sorts of indicators have a fundamental technical basis in the science supporting their exposition and usage. However, the criteria used in interpreting the indicator values are likely to be set by considerations that go beyond scientific grounds. That is, indicators are socially determined in the end. However, many scientists find it difficult to involve the public in such reporting. 3. Scientists who are uncomfortable with this non-technical use of their indicator constructs should recognize that it is merely another manifestation of the overall broadening of environmental concern termed ‘ecosystem health’. The emerging field of ecosystem health seeks to take our technical understanding of how the environment functions and combine it with socio-economic goals, using a human health metaphor and an ethical underpinning. 4. River health might be better served by adopting a veterinary approach rather than the model of human health. This is because, like animals, riverine environments come in many different forms and cannot complain of ill health. Desirable interventions will vary with the uses to which we wish to put a river and our reasons for being concerned about a river’s health. A framework for this diagnostic approach is presented. 5. An enormous challenge lies ahead in integrating the various measurements of riverine attributes that might together constitute ‘river health’. We need ways to cater for the pluralism of modern societies, and we need more dynamic assessments of river condition, possibly founded on studies of key ecological processes.     

效率视角下的省域生态文明建设评价研究

在界定生态文明概念的基础上,从省域层面入手,选取25个具有可操作性的评价指标,构建以国土空间优化、资源节约集约利用和生态环境保护为一级指标的生态文明建设评价指标体系,综合运用网络层次分析和集对分析等研究方法,定量研究我国省域生态文明建设绩效;在此基础上,将国土空间优化绩效、资源节约集约利用绩效和生态环境保护绩效作为产出指标,将就业人数、科学技术财政支出、节能环保财政支出作为投入指标,运用数据包络分析法测度各省(市)生态文明建设效率,分析指标投入冗余和产出不足情况,并修正评价绩效。研究表明:(1)规模效率低于0.6的省份共24个,占80%,规模效率不高是制约生态文明建设水平提升的重要障碍;(2)在生态文明建设投入冗余和产出不足方面,数值较高的省(市)在地理分布上具有明显的区域聚集性;(3)领先地区资源节约集约利用绩效平均分高达3.92,落后地区平均分仅为0.84,生态文明建设绩效的差异性在资源节约集约利用方面表现的尤为明显;(4)人口规模偏大、绿色生态空间建设滞后于经济发展、水资源利用效率不高是多数生态强省(市)的薄弱环节。     

Lethal and sublethal tolerances of aquatic oligochaetes with reference to their use as a biotic index of pollution

A series of recent studies have been completed by the authors involving: 1) determining the lethal tolerances of 12 oligochaete species classified (from ecological studies) as tolerant, moderately tolerant and intolerant to selected chemical toxicants and environmental factors under defined bioassay conditions with and without sediment; 2) determining lethal tolerances of candidate species to toxicants in combination with a range of abiotic factors; 3) measuring respiratory stress imposed by exposure to individual and combined sublethal concentrations of toxicants and environmental factors; and, 4) determining differences in lethal tolerance and respiratory stress between individual and mixed species. Surprisingly few previous studies have been done in this area considering the importance of oligochaetes as field pollution indicators. The results of the above major studies coupled with histopathological work are reviewed. Data from these studies substantiate the present use of oligochaete species assemblages as indicators of organic pollution and suggest their use in the laboratory for toxicant screening tests. The range of responses of different oligochaete species to individual and combined stress is complex, particularly in mixed species, which provides useful indications of specific stress factors. The application of these experimental laboratory studies to field situations is described.     

基于生态效率的江西省循环经济发展模式

循环经济发展模式的研究是当今可持续发展研究及政府相关决策的核心内容,生态效率则是循环经济的合适测度,它是资源能源效率和环境效率的综合表征指标。基于生态效率度量模型和循环经济发展模式的判别模型,以江西省为例,分析其在2000-2010年间循环经济发展模式的变化轨迹。结果表明:(1) 能源消耗与经济发展表现出同步增长的趋势;(2) 各种资源和环境效率均有所上升,其环境效率总体上大于资源效率,按效率增加快慢的排序为:固体废弃物排放效率 > 建设用地效率 > COD排放效率 > 水资源效率 > SO₂排放效率 > 能源效率;(3) 江西省循环经济发展走的是一条由传统线性经济模式到末端治理模式再到循环经济模式的发展道路,符合环境库兹尼茨曲线发展规律,即无害化→减量化→资源化。对研究方法的创新性进行了谨慎的探讨,对区域循环经济发展所应注意的问题提出的建议。     

OECD pressure–state–response indicators for managing biodiversity: a realistic perspective for a French biosphere reserve

Sustainability is said to be the science of integration, be it integration of scale, discipline or of stakeholders’ interests. One way to integrate such diverse elements is to develop sustainable development indicators. Numerous national and international organizations have attempted to develop such indicators, among which interaction indicators are of critical importance because they enable us to link up human activities, ecological dynamics, and social goals. Among the various ways to develop such indicators, the most common ones are the pressure–state–response (PSR) indicators, as well as others coming from this framework. With realistic methodology one shall observe how PSR indicators might appear as an operational tool to face rapid social and ecological changes within a French biosphere reserve in Brittany. Results suggest that such a framework is insufficient to describe, understand and manage social and ecological interactions.

The ecosystem approach to environmental assessment: moving from theory to practice

The ecosystem approach to environmental management is viewed by many as being fundamental to the development of appropriate management strategies. While this approach represents a major advance in the way researchers view environmental assessment, the approach in itself does not provide practical information as to what questions to ask and what tools to use in assessing and managing ecosystems. Similarly, the concept of ecosystem health, as it is usually defined, has little practical value for ecosystem managers. We suggest the next stage in environmental assessment will be the development of specific frameworks designed to assess individual ecosystems. Of primary importance is the need to consider the basic structure and function of the ecosystem itself. Such consideration, together with explicit identification of anthropogenic stresses particular to the system, serves to identify those components most at risk and those issues most deserving of attention. Researchers should explore critical linkages between environmental stressors and their observable, measurable and predictable effects on ecological parameters and use this understanding to develop a management strategy that incorporates appropriate ecological indicators. The importance of these considerations will be illustrated using examples from the Northern River Basins Study.     

The use of ecological integrity indicators within the natural capital index framework: The ecological and economic value of the remnant natural capital of México

In this paper, the ecological integrity hierarchy framework (EIHF) and the natural capital index framework (NCI) are integrated as decision-making tools for evaluating the natural capital of Mexico. Two hierarchy-levels of ecological integrity indicators are used to estimate the quality and quantity of the natural capital, the amount of ecological degradation and ecological sustainability. After human transformation, the extent still considered as “natural” in the country is ∼67%; while the amount of human transformed areas is ∼33%, which gives a total estimate of NCI = 0.334; i.e., only ∼33.4% of the national capital remains available, while ∼33% is ecologically degraded. Furthermore, the critical natural capital; i.e., the legacy for future generations that remains in the country is only ∼12%. The total estimated value of the current natural capital in Mexico is ∼$457.1 billion/yr, which is ∼435 times greater than the national GDP ($1.051 billion in 2010). The cost of maintaining the degradation of the natural capital is ∼$144.6 billion/yr (∼138 times greater than national GDP in 2010). The potential value of the natural capital after restoration would be ∼$602 billion/yr. Valuing the natural capital can be helpful for strategic environmental evaluations and useful for spatial decision support systems that evaluate natural capital as a decision-making tool.     

产业生态系统资源代谢分析方法

产业生态系统是由企业群、资源及环境组成的社会-经济-环境复合生态系统。资源代谢是其功能运行的重要保障。资源代谢在时间和空间尺度上的耗竭及阻滞是造成严重生态环境问题的主要原因。根据生态学原理,运用物质流分析手段解析了产业生态系统的物质流、能流及资金流结构,构建了产业生态系统资源代谢分析模型,提出了资源输入-使用-输出-循环共生四方面的资源代谢分析指标体系和基于模糊综合分析的资源代谢问题树分析方法。在此基础上提出了基于循环共生网络结构模型的生态管理模式。以期为产业资源的生态管理提供方法支撑。     

Ecological vulnerability indicators

Indicators provide easy and quick information on the status or condition of an object of interest and are therefore widely used in policy-making. In recent years, policy interest in vulnerability research has increased and a growing number of studies have been aimed at developing vulnerability indicators. Some of these studies have been done within the social–ecological system (SES) framework, taking into account both social vulnerability and ecological vulnerability. A particular challenged faced, however, is with regard to the incorporation of indicators to capture the latter, especially as the concept of vulnerability as applied in ecology is relatively new and not yet well-explored. This paper expounds on this problem by answering the following questions: (1) How are the concept of vulnerability and thereby ecological vulnerability currently understood? (2) What are the challenges in the development and use of ecological vulnerability indicators? (3) What are the current efforts to overcome these challenges? One insight gathered is that due to the complexity, nonlinearity, and multiplicity of dynamics of natural systems, development of sufficiently general indicators of ecological vulnerability may not be realizable. Rather, ecological vulnerability assessment and the development of indicators thereof, whether done independent of the human system or within the SES, should be conducted at smaller scales and must be context-specific.     

Natural and socioeconomic determinants of the embodied human appropriation of net primary production and its relation to other resource use indicators

Indicators of resource use such as material and energy flow accounts, emission data and the ecological footprint inform societies about their performance by evaluating resource use efficiency and the effectiveness of sustainability policies. The human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) is an indicator of land-use intensity on each nation's territory used in research as well as in environmental reports. ‘Embodied HANPP’ (eHANPP) measures the HANPP anywhere on earth resulting from a nation's domestic biomass consumption. The objectives of this article are (i) to study the relation between eHANPP and other resource use indicators and (ii) to analyse socioeconomic and natural determinants of global eHANPP patterns in the year 2000. We discuss a statistical analysis of >140 countries aiming to better understand these relationships. We found that indicators of material and energy throughput, fossil-energy related CO₂ emissions as well as the ecological footprint are highly correlated with each other as well as with GDP, while eHANPP is neither correlated with other resource use indicators nor with GDP, despite a strong correlation between final biomass consumption and GDP. This can be explained by improvements in agricultural efficiency associated with GDP growth. Only about half of the variation in eHANPP can be explained by differences in national land-use systems, suggesting a considerable influence of trade on eHANPP patterns. eHANPP related with biomass trade can largely be explained by differences in natural endowment, in particular the availability of productive area. We conclude that eHANPP can deliver important complimentary information to indicators that primarily monitor socioeconomic metabolism.     

What criteria should be used to select biodiversity indicators?

The conservation of biodiversity is a major goal in nature conservation, but measuring the total biodiversity of a site or a region is not possible; thus there is a great demand for indicators to represent biodiversity. To be able to make use of indicators, criteria must first be established for their selection, and the degree to which the indicators meet the criteria must be tested. However, the purposes for which indicators are applied—and thus sometimes the criteria themselves—differ between ecological science and environmental policy. As transparency in choosing and testing suitable biodiversity indicators will optimize the results of an indicator, this article first aims to determine if there are common approaches in selecting biodiversity indicators in ecology and environmental policy. Second, we asked which criteria biodiversity indicators were scientifically tested against to determine their suitability. To answer these questions, we analyzed papers on biodiversity indicators referenced in the Web of Science. Our results demonstrate different patterns for selecting biodiversity indicators in the different fields of application. In ecology, the quality of indicators is mainly determined by a close relationship between indicator and indicandum (i.e., indicated phenomenon), while the relevance of an indicator for a given issue, e.g., reserve selection or an assessment of a certain impact, is of paramount importance for conservation policy. Surprisingly, few biodiversity indicators are empirically tested to determine if they meet the criteria by which they were purportedly chosen. We argue that this is due to the different conceptualizations of biodiversity indicators in science and environmental policy. Since the suitability of biodiversity indicators remains untested in many cases, our findings suggest room to make better use of indicators in ecology and environmental policy. As the results of ecological research are put to use to solve environmental problems, the selection of indicators for ecological research should correspond to a large extent with those used in environmental policy. Further, to assess the suitability of a biodiversity indicator, it should be tested against all of the criteria relevant for its selection.     

足迹家族:概念、类型、理论框架与整合模式

足迹研究是当前生态经济学和可持续发展领域的热点与前沿课题。探讨了足迹类指标的内涵,将其定义为一类评估人类资源消费和废弃物排放等活动环境影响的指标;介绍了生态足迹、碳足迹、水足迹、能源足迹、化学足迹、氮足迹和生物多样性足迹7类典型足迹指标的概念与研究进展;在此基础上提出了普适性的足迹家族概念,总结了足迹家族的选择性、开放性、系统性和不确定性特征,并根据足迹类指标的一般运算流程构建了足迹家族的理论框架;基于大量文献成果系统比较了生态足迹、碳足迹和水足迹3类关键足迹的特征差异,提出了在足迹家族层面增强指标兼容性的措施;通过逐一测试各关键足迹与27项环境问题的相关程度,从决策相关性的角度初步探索了该足迹家族的整合模式;展望了未来足迹(家族)研究的重点方向。     

城市生态品质公众感知与现状的定量指标研究

随着国家对韧性城市和人居环境的重视,城市生态品质正在不断的提升和优化,如何对生态品质进行量化以及如何满足公众需求是当前迫切需要解决的重要问题。内蒙古自治区作为我国北方重要的生态安全屏障,各盟市的自然条件和社会经济差异巨大,城市生态品质公众感知与现状亟需系统研究。从生态资源的数量、质量和可获得性三个维度建立了评价体系,通过收集内蒙古自治区12个盟市612份满意度调查问卷、7项百度指数以及12项城市生态品质现状定量指标,系统分析了城市生态品质公众感知与现状间的差异。研究表明,问卷调查和现状结果均显示出可获得性>数量>质量,而百度指数则相反,表明当前内蒙古自治区各盟市在城市生态品质建设中更需要注重质量上的优化。研究提出了内蒙古自治区城市生态品质建设的发展方向,为公众获得感和幸福感的提升路径提供了参考。     

The selection, testing and application of terrestrial insects as bioindicators

Although the uses and merits of terrestrial insects as indicators have been extensively discussed, there is a lack of clear definition, goal directedness and hypothesis testing in studies in the field. In an attempt to redress some of these issues and outline an approach for further studies, three categories of terrestrial insect indicators, corresponding to differences in their application, are proposed, i.e. environmental, ecological and biodiversity indicators. The procedures in terrestrial insect bioindicator studies should start with a clear definition of the study objectives and proposed use of the bioindicator, as well as with a consideration of the scale at which the study is to be carried out. Bioindication studies are conducted at a variety of spatial and temporal scales within the context of earth-system processes, but the objectives of the study will largely determine the scale at which it would be optimally conducted. There is a tendency for studies to be conducted below their space-time scaling functions, giving them apparent predictability. The selection of potential indicator taxa or groups is then based on a priori suitability criteria, the identification of predictive relationships between the indicator and environmental variables and, most importantly, the development and testing of hypotheses according to the correlative patterns found. Finally, recommendations for the use of the indicator in monitoring should be made. Although advocating rigorous, long-term protocols to identify indicators may presently be questionable in the face of the urgency with which conservation decisions have to be made, this approach is critical if bioindicators are to be used with any measurable degree of confidence.